Not a Just a Hobby, An Adventure of Discovery
After that, I started to spend most of my covid time consuming and watching these hours of content. But it wasn't like watching an ordinary movie or a TV series. Because the people playing were not reading memorized paragraphs. The character they were playing was not written by someone else.
The story was not written by one person.
The story was told by a group of friends sitting around the table together. There is a Dungeon Master who helps explain how things turn out, but the choices that all the players make, the decisions they make, the things they say and the way they interact with the NPCs can drive the whole story.
It was an incredible experience for me. People making decisions live in the moment and all of a sudden the group gets emotional, at one moment everyone gets angry, they do everything they can to defeat a villain they're fighting together. The villains are so well written and often a personal threat. When they finally triumph, the whole group hugs and congratulates each other in ecstasy...
That's when I decided that when I got home I was going to build a room like that and go on adventures with my friends.
Dungeons and Dragons is more than a hobby for many people. It's a passion and an obsession. When you're in the middle of a game, it's hard to see the world around you. You are surrounded by other people who are there with you, and they want to be there with you too.
This is why I love Dungeons and Dragons. It helps me strengthen friendships that I already have, it teaches me how to work together when we have trouble getting through a tough battle or boss fight, and it makes me care about other people's problems and realize that we are not the only ones with problems, everyone has problems.
It's also very important for children to learn empathy from their parents or other adults in their lives—and Dungeons & Dragons can help do that as well.
Then I thought I didn't need to wait to go home, and we started playing through online platforms, like discord. It didn't have the same flavor. It was constantly breaking, the sound was poor quality.
So we designed the table you see below.
A table that fits in the room and we can look at each other and play comfortably while sitting. Our friends liked this table very much.
That's when things changed.
It was more fun not only to think, write and imagine the game on paper, but also to use the minis!
And I got myself a brand new hobby, building terrain, printing and painting miniatures with a 3D printer.
I also have a lot of fun painting the minis and it gives me a lot of joy when my friends like these toys when we use them in our play, just like a mother likes the food she prepares and her children like it.
Dungeons and Dragons is not a simple game to be thought of as a hobby alone. It includes many hobbies. Writing is one of them.
There is also dice making! I don't have the equipment to make dice yet and I can't afford it, but one of the things I want most in life is to make my own dice and market them as a product.
Another thing is that our group is convinced for a youtube project! That's exactly why, in a few months, we want to upload footage of our game on YouTube.
I hope we can help people in our country and show them what a fun and character building game Dnd is.
My group and I have been playing Dungeons & Dragons since the 2020 January. We've played in 3 different campaigns and a lot of ''one shot games'' throughout covid times, meeting once a week online to clash swords with kobolds, hobgoblins, and dragons—not to mention each other. D&D has helped make my friends some of the best people I know, because we've learned how to work together and care about each other's problems.
I will never forget what our cleric, the healer of our group, said to our Rouge friend when he was dying. I would like to remind you that these two friends did not know each other before this game. Think about how you can play games with long-time friends who know each other
''I've got your back. You're dear to me. You're just like me. Your mom will cry for you too, even though we chose different paths. I can't let a mother cry. I can't let your life be taken away from you. You don't deserve to die, you deserve to live and make amends and apologize to the people you hurt. You deserve to be born anew. I won't let anyone mess with you, and I'll always keep you safe.''
This game evokes similar feelings for me and I'm sure for everyone who plays it. Getting together once a week for 3-4 hours to have fun and go on adventures with your friends in the world you created in your own head is priceless.
I hope one day everyone will realize how enjoyable Dnd is and join the game.
Thank you very much for reading!